I saw beautiful yarns, and the best color palette I could find was from Quince & Co. But faced with all these beautiful skeins, I suddenly realized that pastels would work better for a spring sweater, and wool might not be the best choice. So I start searching for a summer yarn and I find the right palette in Cascade Yarns Ultra Pima. Granted, it will look quite different from the original, but I think I can get the effect I want. Or will I?J’ai vu de belles laines, et la meilleure palette de couleurs était sans conteste chez Quince&Co. Mais je me suis dit que la laine serait trop chaud pour un modèle plutôt printanier. Je me suis tournée vers le coton, pour finalement trouver une palette qui me plaisait en Cascade Yarns Ultra Pima, un beau coton d’épaisseur DK. Bon, c’est sûr, cela risque d’être assez différent de l’original mais je devrais pouvoir créer l’effet que je veux. Ou bien ?

I started playing with numbers and patterns last year, trying to find patterns in similar weight to get the basic frame and build from there. Then we moved and all that, and my yarns remained stuck in its project bag until I finally let it out a couple of weeks ago. Time to swatch, for real. So first, I tried a few rib stitches to choose the best one. Actually, this weird apricot is a wrong choice that was replaced by the deep coral. I decided to keep it and use it for the swatching process.J’ai commencé à jouer avec les chiffres et les patrons l’année dernière, en cherchant des modèles que je pourrais facilement adapter pour me servir de base . Puis nous avons déménagé, mes pelotes sont restées coincées dans leur sac projet jusqu’à ce je me décide à finalement les ressortir début mai. Cette fois, c’était le moment de faire mes échantillons pour de bon. J’ai commencé par tester différents styles de côtes pour trouver la meilleure. Cet abricot est un choix raté qui a été remplacé par le corail vibrant. J’avais décidé de le garder pour pouvoir faire des tests.

I tried three types of rib stitches: the plain 1×1 rib at the bottom, followed by the same 1×1 rib but with knit through the back loop on the right side, then a full twisted tib on top. I found that the second method worked better. So I started swatching for the chevron effect. And then it dawned on me.J’ai testé trois types de côtes; la côte 1×1 toute simple, puis la même mais en tordant la maille endroit sur les rangs endroits (c’est à dire en tricotant la maille endroit par l’arrière), pour finir par des côtes perlées (maille torse des deux côtés). La deuxième méthode était la plus proche du modèle. Ensuite j’ai commencé mon échantillon pour le chevron. Et là, j’ai enfin compris.

It’s not going to work out. At all. This is not the right yarn, not the right weight, not the right colors. In fact, it is going to look pretty awful. As I study the sweater pictures more closely, I can see that the weight of the Valentino yarn must be closer to chunky, considering the small number of stitches per inch. The yarn is silk, but a kind of rough silk, and the best yarn to get a similar result would be a mixture of wool and mohair, certainly not silky cotton.Franchement, ça ne va pas le faire. Du tout. Ce n’est pas la bonne laine, ni la bonne épaisseur, ni les bonnes couleurs. En fait, cela risque même d’être assez hideux. Je me penche sur les photos des modèles de plus près et je vois que le pull Valentino doit être tricoté en laine assez épaisse, vu le nombre de mailles au centimètre. Le modèle est en soie, mais ce doit être une soie assez rustique, il me faudrait un mélange de laine avec un peu de mohair pour retrouver l’effet du pull, et pas un coton soyeux.

Oh yes, another FO post for you, there aren’t so many left before the big move. I made it ! I finally have my own Aran sweater, after more than 2 years of planning and stashing and changing patterns until I found the perfect one, the one I knew I was going to keep forever (well, at least for a while).

It gave me a bit of work, I must say. Especially when I realized I had made a mistake on the back, crossed a cable on the wrong side but only saw it 5 or 7 inches later. GAAAH ! It took me three or four days to unknit and knit again. I also messed up the raglan decreases and had to start all over again. This is what happens when you try to knit decreases on a cable pattern while watching a movie and glancing every now and then on the pattern. Never mind, it was worth the efforts, the blood and sweat and tears (ok I’m exagerating) to get this result. Most of all: IT FITS.

I could have worn it this winter (a very, very long winter) if it had not landed in the finishing purgatory, this very special place where projects that only require a few seams languish for an indefinite amount of time (too long basically). I know I’m not the only one, but I often wonder why it takes me so long to do a few seams after spending so much time on the knitting. I take comfort in the fact that it will be perfect for my next winter in Brittany, far from the bitter cold of Canada.

If you plan to knit this free pattern, please note: there is one mistake in the chart B, on row 6, quite easy to find and fix (see my Ravelry page for the details). I used 7 skeins of Berroco Ultra-Alpaca in Winter White plus a bit of an 8th, for the Medium size.

And while I was finishing it, guess what came up ? The dress version. For die-hard cable fanatics only ! Not for me, thank you. I’ve had my share of cables for a while. But I do find it quite alluring.

Now I can pretend I’m Faye Dunaway and sit glamourously on the beach next to a campfire while my own Steve McQueen pours me a glass of champagne (yeah, well, dreaming is free). And no ! He will not wear a matching Aran, because there is no way I’m knitting miles of cables for my 6.2″ husband. Unless he begs me to (which I know won’t happen, so I’m quite safe – but he would look great in one).

I received the January catalog from Knit Picks and I am very tempted by their Special Reserve edition. Click here for more détails on these five different yarns, in limited edition. Top of my list: the Alpaca Wool Twist for the marled effect and Superfine Alpaca Angora for the softness. And the Cotton Pima with its thin and thick texture is calling my name too. Should I break my yarn diet ? I have to decide fast before their stocks run out.

Playlist: Une chanson douce – Henri Salvador

I chose a very peaceful song, a song of innocence, love and kindness. I listened to this song a lot when I was a little girl, and to me it represents both nostalgia and softness. The song is sung to a child before bedtime and tells the story of a doe hunted by a wolf, saved by a gentle knight. In her arms she turns into a beautiful princess. This is specially dedicated to my French friends who need kindness and calm these days, more than anything.Spécialement pour mes amis français qui ont bien besoin d’amour et de gentillesse en ce moment, cette jolie chanson paisible. J’ai grandi avec cette chanson, pleine de nostalgie et de douceur.

Thought that kind of print was just a (bad) memory, never to be seen again ? Wrong. The tiger faces on clothes are alive and kicking, as evidenced by the number of items you can find when typing “tiger” on Polyvore. Here are few examples.Vous pensiez que ce genre d’imprimé n’était plus qu’un (mauvais) souvenir lointain, à oublier pour toujours? Faux. Les faces de tigres sont omniprésentes dans les tendances cette année. Il suffit de taper “tigre” sur Polvyore pour trouver pléthore d’exemples. En voici juste quelques-uns.

When Vogue Knitting released their tiger sweater last year, I felt a strange attraction to it. Never mind that my husband thinks it is totally uncool, I felt drawn to it to the point that I cast on last March. I finished it a couple of weeks ago. Yes, it took me that long. This intarsia is complex, and let me not get started on the ends to weave in. Oh boy ! I had to go through several sessions of 2 to 3 hours to finish them all. But it was so worth it. I love that sweater. I chose an Orchid like background color (just a tiny bit influenced by Pantone®’s color of the year) and I love white tigers, so it was easy to choose cream, grey and black for the animal face.

How to wear something so flashy? Leave the background as neutral as possible. The star of the outfit is the print. This how I would style my Tiger sweater. I especially love the big rounded collar, warm enough to make any other cowl or scarf redundant. Yes, turns out my sweater is trendy ! Who would have thought ? I just hope that my husband lets me wear it in public.

Crocheted Poufs – Hooked & EchtStudio. Because I still hope that one day I will be able to crochet well enough to do one just like these.Poufs en crochet: parce que je vis dans l’espoir (ou l’illusion) qu’un jour je serai capable de crocheter quelque chose comme ca